Now for the start of Episode Five. This will be the last nakedness for quite a while so make the most of it
Episode Five: Strider
The camera travels over dark slopes in the night to a broken and jagged stone circle. A bitter wind whines endlessly. Cut to the black outline of a mound on the skyline. Cut to the black entrance of a Barrow that we saw in Tom’s story. The opening credits start; JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings: Episode Five – Strider. As the credits run the camera approaches the entrance until the darkness fills the screen. Cut to Frodo lying on a slab, his hands crossed on his breast, eyes closed. There is utter silence. A greenish pale white light illuminates the scene. Frodo’s eyes open wide suddenly. His hand gropes down over his pocket to check if he still has the Ring. He raises his head a little. Cut to a medium shot that shows him and a long slab opposite him. Merry, Pippin and Sam lie on the long slab facing him with their eyes closed. They are clothed in long white robes and are bedecked with chains and rings that look grey in the dim light. More treasure and weapons are piled up on the ground between them. A brief cut to a close-up of a long thin naked sword resting with its edge across the throats of the three hobbits. Cut to a view of Frodo’s face from above as he settles back. He closes his eyes then opens them again looking beyond the camera.
Frodo: ‘ I have failed before I have begun. I led my friends to their deaths and I am trapped here forever by the spells of a barrow-wight. (a pause) But I might escape. I still have the Ring. I would have to leave my friends behind but after all, Gandalf would understand.’
His eyes flicker to one side as a low dreary murmuring starts and turns into a dirge. Frodo closes his eyes again and clamps his hands over his ears.
'Cold be hand and heart and bone.
And cold be sleep under stone.
Never more to wake on stony bed,
never, until the Sun fails and the Moon is dead.
In the black wind the stars shall die
And still on gold here let them lie
Till the dark Lord lifts his hand
Over dead sea and withered land.’
When the chant finishes Frodo opens his eyes and uncovers his ears. Distantly we hear Bilbo’s kindly voice and chuckles. As he speaks the grim scene fades to a washed out scene of Bilbo and a young Frodo rambling between gorse bushes in full golden flower.
Bilbo: ‘ There is only one Road, Frodo. It is like a great river and its springs start at every doorstep. It’s a dangerous business – you step into the road and there is no knowing where you might be swept to. This very path leads to Mirkwood and it might take you to the Lonely Mountain or even worse places.’ Bilbo chuckles again.
The scene fades back to Frodo’s face from above, now with an affectionate smile. Then his lips stiffen in determination. We hear a dry scratching, scraping sound. Cut to the medium view of the whole group. Frodo raises himself on one elbow. Beyond the three hobbits we see an arm groping around a wall, searching blindly for the hilt of the sword across the hobbits’ throat. In one movement Frodo rolls off the slab and searches desperately among the weapons on the ground. Picking up a curved blade he hacks repeatedly at the arm. There is an animal snarl, the screen turns completely black and we hear a clatter of shattered metal falling. We hear Frodo’s laboured breathing. The blackness continues for about 4 or 5 seconds then another animal snarl. Then in a cracked dry spindly voice he starts: ‘ Ho Tom Bombadil!’ Then with more strength and vigour, each time Tom’s name is used Frodo voice gains strength.:
‘Ho Tom Bombadil, Tom Bombadillo!
By water, wood and hill, by the reed and willow,
By fire, sun and moon, hearken now and hear us!
Come Tom Bombadil, for our need is near us!’
The screen remains dark and we hear Frodo’s breathing.
Then, distantly but getting louder:
Tom: ‘ Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is and his boots are yellow.’
A grinding rumbling noise then the chamber is flooded with sunlight and the silhouette of Tom and his feathered hat is seen in the doorway. He runs in and claps his hands to a beat:
‘Get out you old wight! Vanish in the sunlight.
Come never here again! Leave your barrow empty!
Lost and forgotten be, darker than the darkness,
Where gates stand forever shut, till the world is mended!’
A sad sigh fades away to nothing. Tom goes up to a hand wriggling on the ground and stamps on it a few times. As he does so Frodo lifts Pippin off the slab and goes to carry him outside. Cut to Frodo with Pippin and Sam on the sunny grass outside as Tom carries Merry out and lays him down too. Cut to Tom bringing out armfuls of treasure and scattering it on the grass as Frodo rubs Pippin’s hands vigorously. Tom comes over and raises his arms above the prone hobbits.
Tom: ‘Wake up my merry lads, wake and hear me calling.
Warm now be heart and limb, the cold stone is fallen.’
They stir and rise up stiffly then point to each other’s strange clothes and jewellery.
Merry: ‘ What in the name of wonder? (he holds his side) Ah! I remember! The men of Carn Dum came in the night. I can feel the spear in my heart! (He gulps for breath a few times) No, no, it must have been a dream! What happened to you Frodo?’
Frodo: ‘I do not wish to talk about it. We should go on and leave this place.’
Sam, tugging at his gown and pulling off his jewels and throwing them among the rest of the treasure on the grass: ‘Like this? Where are our proper clothes?’
Tom, scattering another armful of treasure: ‘Clothes are but little loss, cast off these cold rags. Run naked on the grass. Let the warm sunlight heat heart and limb.’ Then he runs off whistling and calling: ‘Swish-tail! Bumpkin!’
Sam pulls off the tunic over his head, balls it up and throws it away as far as he can. He is naked now and the others laugh at him then start to do the same. Cut to the naked hobbits rolling down the grass slope laughing and shouting. Cut to Tom’s hat and then figure appearing over a crest. He is leading the ponies back together with a larger unladen pony. Cut to Tom’s back as he pulls clothes from the packs and tosses them over his shoulder. Cut to the hobbits, now dressed, sitting in a circle eating while Tom in the distance searches through the treasure in the grass. He approaches holding four small swords up in the air. As he comes up to the hobbits we see a deep sky blue brooch pinned to his hat.
Tom: ‘Knives are as long as swords for hobbits. If you go walking to the east and south you will need sharp blades. (he looks at the swords) Men of Westernesse made these before they fell to the Witch-King. Few now remain to wander the Northern wild-lands; the forgotten sons of kings.’
The hobbits stand up soberly. Tom separates one sword out and examines it carefully. He holds it to his ear as if he were listening. Then he looks at each hobbit in turn. He returns to Merry and gives him the sword and grasps his shoulder. Then he hands out the others. The hobbits look at each other uneasily.
Pippin: ’I never thought our adventures would mean swords and fighting!’
Cut to a view from over Merry’s shoulder. He draws out a golden coloured, leaf shaped blade with a wickedly sharp point. Spirals run up the blade. We faintly hear the sound of horns blowing. Merry slides the blade back in and the sound of the horns stops.
(If I hear that terrible hackneyed metallic scraping of a sword being drawn I will personally boot the sound effects team off the production! As an owner of swords, this is a niggle of mine.)
Cut to the group trotting over grassland. Cut to the group on a clear roadway. Behind them we see a line of trees beside the road. Tom’s pony is facing away and he is about to leave them He turns in the saddle to talk to them and points along the road.
Tom: ‘Four miles along the road, then you’ll be in Bree. Good speed my merry friends and ride to meet your fortune.’ He trots off.
Sam: ‘ He was a caution and no mistake. Now, where do we sleep in this place, Bree?’
As Merry replies we see a hooded and cloaked figure emerge from behind a tree and move cautiously along to get closer to the hobbits. They are unaware of him.
Merry: ‘There are Big Folk as well as hobbits living in Bree. Barliman Butterbur at The Prancing Pony will take good care of us.’
Frodo: ‘ However good this Prancing Pony is, remember we are out of the Shire now. My name must be Underhill, not Baggins.’
Cut to the ponies trotting into the distance and well behind, the dark figure loping lightly after them.
Cut to a windswept narrow defile between low cliffs. The scene is almost black and white and drear. Three mounted Black Riders guard the path. Behind them a dismounted Rider with his horse by him stands before a mounted Rider much taller than the others.
We hear a deep sepulchral voice: ‘Here on the road to the south, the rat will not escape us. The Ring must not get to the doomed ruler of Gondor nor the wizard at Orthanc. When the rat is seen at Bree I have servants there who will deliver it to me with its throat cut.’
Thanks so much for continuing to share it with us.
When I came back and read your adaptation, I could really understand why you decided on this approach. I think with the right cinematographer (and musical score), it could be a stunningly effective montage. 
An altogether fitting (and lovely) rendering of the Elves awakening beside Cuiviénen. It would be nice if they had a bit of that "glow" to them that you (and Tolkien) gave to Gildor's company! 
